Debswana

Debswana is a joint venture between De Beers diamond mining company and the government of Botswana. De Beers owns the rights to mine diamonds in the Kalahari, and through Debswana, has played a key role in evicting indigenous Kalahari Bushmen from their land. According to Lord Pearson of Rannoch – a Peer in the British House of Lords, "Many of them (Kalahari Bushmen) felt that they had been evicted because Debswana wanted their land for its diamonds". 

Debswana is a client of Hill & Knowlton, one of the largest public relations firms in the United States. Hill & Knowlton claims on its website that "an information campaign generated support [for Debswana] among members of Congress, UK Parliamentarians, Members of the Japanese Diet and Members of the European Parliament, as well as numerous media outlets." .

Directors
Accessed May 2009:


 * Blackie Marole - Managing Director, Debswana (Board Member)
 * Eric M. Molale - PS to the President, (Board Chairman)
 * Gareth Penny - Managing Director, De Beers (Deputy Board Chairman)
 * Linah K. Mohohlo - Governor, Bank of Botswana (Board Member)
 * Serwalo S. Tumelo - PS, Min of Finance & Development Planning (Board Member)
 * Debbie Farnaby - Director of Information Technologies, De Beers (Board Member)
 * A. Molokomme - Attorney General of the Republic of Botswana (Board Member)
 * Sheila Khama - CEO, De Beers Botswana (Board Member)

Contact
Debswana House P.O. Box 329, Gaborone, Botswana Telephone: +267 3951 131/3614 200 Facsimile: +267 3956 110 or +267 395 2941 Web: http://www.debswana.com/homePage/dbHomePage.asp

External Resources

 * George Monbiot, Who really belongs to another age - bushmen or the House of Lords?, The Guardian, March 21, 2006.